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The Jays have made more non-injury-related roster transactions than any other team in the majors, and it wears on players like reliever Chad Jenkins, who on Saturday was demoted to Triple-A for the fifth time this season.

The Jays sent reliever Chad Jenkins to Triple-A Buffalo again on Saturday, with Kyle Drabek being promoted to take his place.
(Rick Madonik / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

CHICAGO—Chances are Chad Jenkins already had his bags packed for Buffalo by the time official word of his latest demotion came down. After all he’s been through this season, Jenkins knows when his time is up.

“Being the guy with options,” he told the Star last week, “I feel like if games get a little too deep or you have to use all the pitchers, I know what’s coming.”

The Blue Jays’ 26-year-old reliever was spared a trip to the minors last week after he threw six shutout relief innings in the Jays’ 19-inning marathon victory over Detroit — likely to honour that admirable and gutsy effort — but with Marcus Stroman failing to make it out of the first inning Friday night and the Jays’ exhausted bullpen once again in need of emergency relief, he wasn’t as fortunate this time around. Kyle Drabek was promoted Saturday to take Jenkins’ place, marking the fifth time this season Jenkins has been sent down.

He isn’t the only one, of course. Anthony Gose, who was sent back to Buffalo on Friday to make room for Edwin Encarnacion, has also been shuttled back and forth five times this season, while reliever Rob Rasmussen and former backup catcher Erik Kratz — who has since been traded to Kansas City as part of a trade for Danny Valencia — have been optioned four times apiece.

If a player is on the 40-man roster but not on the active roster he is said to be on “optional assignment,” which is where the shorthand reference to “options” comes from. When a player “has options,” it means he can be sent back and forth between the major and minor leagues an unlimited number of times in a given year without having to first clear waivers. A player is “out of options” once he is optioned in three (or four, depending on a series of arcane rules) different seasons, and then must clear waivers before being demoted. The rules protect players with more service time, ensuring established veterans aren’t held back in the minors if another team could use them in the big leagues.

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It’s common practice for players with options to be sent to and from the minors several times in a year, but according to research by the Star, the Jays have taken an especially aggressive approach in this regard. The Jays have made more non-injury and non-trade-related roster moves than any other team this year — nearly 40 per cent more than the league average and nearly three times as many as the Brewers and White Sox, the least active teams.

“I don’t think there’s anything to it,” general manager Alex Anthopoulos said when presented with the numbers. “Sometimes to avoid putting players on the (disabled list) we’ll call someone up for a short period so we’re not playing short. Nothing more than that.”

But Anthopoulos also suggested the high number of roster moves is part of a conscious plan to reduce pitcher injuries and DL stints for position players.

“We definitely haven’t used the waiver wire much this year, but we have consciously optioned players back and forth to avoid DL placements. That has absolutely been by design.”

Anthopoulos cited as an example the club’s use of Liam Hendriks to make three spot starts in order to rest the pitching staff. The Jays have used eight different starting pitchers this year, one-third fewer than the 12 they have averaged over the last five seasons. Anthopoulos said his own internal study found the average major-league team uses 11 starters a year.

“Our goal is always to keep that number down,” he said. “I think the main thing is we’ve had so many pitching injuries the past few years that we decided to take this course to keep those pitching DL injuries down.”

Still, for many fans the intricacies of baseball’s roster rules can be frustrating, as they seem to protect less deserving players and contradict the idea of sports as the ultimate meritocracy. Juan Francisco, for example, has struggled badly over the last 2 ½ months, but he remains on the roster largely because he is out of options and, despite his flaws, would likely be claimed on waivers.

Jenkins, a former first-round pick who has been used primarily in a long relief role, has pitched well this year, if not spectacularly, posting a 2.56 ERA over 31.2 innings. He has allowed just one earned run over his last 10 appearances. His performance, however, appears to factor little in whether he stays or goes.

“All players, especially relievers, realize that when the ’pen has been used a lot, those with options get sent out to protect the entire group, including the player being optioned,” Anthopoulos said.

For Jenkins, it all adds up to a season lived out of a suitcase. The longest he has spent in any one place this year is the six weeks he was with the Jays from June 3 to July 18, before the club needed to make room for Brad Mills, whom they claimed off waivers and promptly designated for assignment four days later.

Asked to describe his season, Jenkins answers wryly: “Up and down.”

“It’s hard to explain the year because I’ve had such a roller-coaster of emotions. You throw in a big-league game, you get a scoreless inning, you’re as happy as can be. Next thing you know, you’re on a plane back to Buffalo,” he said.

Jenkins says a demotion is harder to take when it’s to make room for a position player, rather than another pitcher. “Because in the back of your mind you’re thinking, ‘They really don’t need me at all. My spot is irrelevant to them. They can just replace me with an outfielder and still continue on.’”

Jenkins, who still has one more option year after this one, says it can be tough to watch other players get multiple opportunities when it seems he’s on such a short leash. “I don’t want to name any names, because God knows I’ve struggled and there have probably been times when I should have been sent down and I wasn’t, but you see some guys struggle and they keep getting opportunities.”

At the same time, he knows he has yet to establish himself as an everyday player, and when he steps back and looks at the big picture, he says he sees the rationality behind the moves.

“There’s some things that are unfair about it, but in the end most of the rules are meant to protect players,” he said. “Like the options. It sucks now for me because I feel like sometimes things just don’t work my way. But in the end I will run out of options and I’ll be one of those guys who gets protected.”

The rules are meant to help the players, he said. “But when you’re living them you don’t feel like you’re getting any help.”

MOST MLB ROSTER MOVES IN 2014*

Blue Jays — 105

Angels — 100

Indians — 85

Yankees — 84

Red Sox — 80

Rangers — 78

Marlins — 77

Orioles — 76

Rockies — 71

Astros — 71

*Includes all recalls, options, designated for assignments, outright releases and selected contracts through Friday; does not include trades or additions to the disabled list.

CHAD JENKINS’ ‘UP AND DOWN’ SEASON

Friday marked the fifth time Jenkins has been sent down this season. Here’s a look at his roller-coaster season.

April 5: The Blue Jays initially tried to call Jenkins up from Buffalo before they realized he had yet to spend the requisite 10 days in the minors after being optioned at the end of spring training.

April 26: Recalled from Buffalo to take Neil Wagner’s spot on the roster

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